{"id":100931,"date":"2019-03-25T12:26:28","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T16:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100931\/5-exercise-myths-you-might-believe\/"},"modified":"2022-11-30T23:57:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T04:57:27","slug":"5-exercise-myths-you-might-believe","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100931\/5-exercise-myths-you-might-believe\/","title":{"rendered":"Five exercise myths busted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bulls don\u2019t hate the color red, you can swim after you eat, and cracking your knuckles won\u2019t give you arthritis – these are just some myths you\u2019ve probably been made to believe. It\u2019s actually surprising to think about how many myths are floating around us – many of then unquestioned – all the time, but some myths are safer to believe than others.<\/p>\n

Exercise myths to watch out for<\/h2>\n

When it comes to exercise and working out, falsehoods can be especially harmful, and there are plenty of them floating around. This sort of misinformation can affect your health, so it\u2019s good to be able to separate fact from fiction. Here are five commonly-held beliefs about exercise that we’re ready to debunk.<\/p>\n

Treadmills measure calories accurately<\/h3>\n

To be fair, treadmills will never be able to give you a perfect estimate for calories burned, because they simply can\u2019t take certain factors into account. A treadmill won\u2019t know your resting metabolic rate, which determines how many calories you need to eat every day, and it can\u2019t measure your exercise efficiency. Your fitness level also determines how fast you burn calories. Instead of looking at the \u2018calories burned\u2019 monitor, focus on other health goals like duration and intensity of exercise.<\/p>\n

Exercise should be painful<\/h3>\n

This myth explains why thousands of people quit the gym two weeks after they start. Many people believe that to really exercise, you have to go 110% every time. A little burn is fine; in fact, it\u2019s to be expected with exercise. But any sharp, stabbing pain, especially if it happens in your joints or chest, definitely means that something might be wrong. This is actually the best way to determine if your pain is serious: stop exercising and see if the pain goes away. To prevent exercise-related pain, always warm up before you exercise, and cool down afterwards.<\/p>\n

Walking isn\u2019t enough for exercise<\/h3>\n

This one couldn\u2019t be farther from the truth – if anything, walking is the original exercise. Walking briskly for 30 minutes a day can be an enjoyable way to meet the physical activity recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

The longer you work out, the better<\/h3>\n

A lot of research actually shows that short, intense workouts – sometimes referred to as interval training – have the same health benefits as longer ones. And in some cases, they\u2019re even better for you. An example of a good short workout would be walking for three minutes and then running for one minute, for a 30-minute period. Not only might it be better for you, but it gives you more time to spend doing things other than working out.<\/p>\n

You shouldn\u2019t work out if you\u2019re sore<\/h3>\n

As mentioned above, a sharp or stabbing pain somewhere in your body long after you exercise might be a sign of an injury<\/a>. This said, if you\u2019re sore from yesterday\u2019s workout, you can absolutely exercise today. General soreness from exercise just means that you\u2019re doing something your body isn\u2019t used to, which is pretty much ideal right now. Another myth about exercise soreness is that you didn\u2019t have a good workout unless you\u2019re sore afterward. The truth? Fitness is your ultimate goal, not an inability to walk up the stairs the next day.<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/h3>\n

When it comes to exercise, don\u2019t get too bogged down in all the information that\u2019s out there. But try to investigate any potential myths before you build your workout around them – you might find that you\u2019ve been believing some myths all along!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do treadmills measure calories accurately? Should exercise hurt? Does walking even count as working out? Misinformation about exercise doesn’t help anyone, so we’re here to set the record straight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220975,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ovia_author_name":"","ovia_author_prefix":"","ovia_author_image":"","ovia_content_type_id":"176","ovia_product_mode":"2","ovia_days_from_signup":"42","ovia_days_from_lmp":"","ovia_days_from_baby_birth":"","ovia_days_from_enroll":"","ovia_health_module_days_from":"","ovia_article_for_email_days_from":"","ovia_health_module":"","ovia_legacy_id2":"","ovia_ttc":"","ovia_article_subtype":"","ovia_health_symptom":"","ovia_partner_id":"","ovia_partner_custom_group":"","ovia_legacy_category":"123","ovia_legacy_category2":"","ovia_content_url_id":"100931","ovia_include_share_buttons":"","ovia_fertility_goal":"2,1,3,4","ovia_secondary_module":"","ovia_trimester":"","ovia_child_age":"","ovia_share_image":"","ovia_more_menu_image":"","ovia_button1_url":"","ovia_days_from_postpartum":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"fert-category":[38,41,37,33,14,34,20,10,36],"preg-category":[],"parent-category":[],"fert-tag":[185,237,191,202],"preg-tag":[],"parent-tag":[],"class_list":["post-100931","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fert-category-exercise-and-movement","fert-category-friendship-community","fert-category-general-health","fert-category-health-and-wellness","fert-category-menstrual-cycle-health","fert-category-nutrition","fert-category-preconception-health","fert-category-reproductive-health","fert-category-sleep","fert-tag-communication-with-partner","fert-tag-fertility-nutrition","fert-tag-patient-self-advocacy","fert-tag-preconception-exercise"],"yoast_head":"\nBusted: Discover the truth about five exercise myths<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s a lot of misinformation out there. 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